1st August 2015 Day 1 Roma

Day 1 - 1 August

At last we're off - on our six week camping trip!

Barb was up at 4.30 this morning, unable to sleep as she was so keen to get away on our camping trip and was as excited as a little kid. We had spent the last week trying to pack the trailer, clean the house tidy up the yard etc etc while fitting in work shifts as well .... so it will be good to finally have a break. Preparing to go on holiday is so exhausting!

We were finally on our way out of Maleny by 0815. A valiant effort. The car is riding very low on the ground with the weight of the luggage, and the trailer had mats and solar panels strapped on top of the tonneau cover .... but we made good progress to Kilcoy  Here we stopped at the local bakery for some much needed coffee and a rest break, and a very acceptable sausage roll for John.

John stops the mats from flapping on the top of the trailer at Kilcoy

We stopped again briefly at BlackButt to stretch our legs (that's code for loo stop) and decided to take a shortcut to Dalby by turning off at Yarraman. This saved kilometres but maybe not time as we were on winding back roads, but it was very picturesque and there wasn't much traffic.

Barb at BlackButt

John considers catching a bus at BlackButt.
Nah. No buses to Darwin.

Barb took over the driving at Kaimkillenbun (just before Dalby) as John was starting to yawn from his early start and we eventually made it to Dalby where we joined the Warrego Highway. Much more traffic here including some very large B Double trucks moving apace. At Chinchilla we spotted a Coffee Club attached to a servo. Time to fill up tanks and tums.

This achieved, and John now more alert after mainlining some coffee .... we made a final push for Roma, our intended destination for the night.

Once in Roma the GPS led us astray in trying to locate our caravan park, sending us to the wrong end of the kilometres long street. We smelled a rat and headed back in the opposite direction. At least we got to see the avenue of boab trees and some of the lovely old buildings in Roma's main street.

We pull into the Big Rig Tourist park to find it FULLY BOOKED!

We managed to get a room, though

A swim would be good....but too cold

The caravan park was completely booked out by the time we rocked up. Oh no! Who knew it would be this busy in Roma? We managed to secure a room at the park, however, which saves us having to set up camp and will mean we can get an early start tomorrow.

Walking trails in Roma

Historic slab hut

gorgeous parks

Barb at the Big Rig Info centre

John at the Big Rig

The pond near the van park

Feeding the ducks

We settled in and then took a walk to the Big Rig Info Centre. There are some lovely walking trails and parks in Roma and we appreciated being able to stretch our legs after a long day's driving.
Heading to Barcaldine tomorrow. This time we've booked ahead!

Roma's boabs at sunset

John plans tomorrow's route